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Mariam Veiszadeh        

Award Winning Human Rights Champion, Lawyer, Diversity & Inclusion Practitioner, Contributing Author, Social Commentator

Mariam Veiszadeh is an award winning human rights champion, lawyer, diversity & inclusion practitioner, contributing author and social commentator.

In 2021, Veiszadeh was appointed CEO of Media Diversity Australia. She has also founded the Islamophobia Register Australia, and has held multiple board positions including formerly as Co-Chair of Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights and Our Watch.

Veiszadeh has worked as radio commentator for the ABC radio and as a columnist for Fairfax media.

Veiszadeh has also delivered a TEDxSydney speech and featured as an Anti-Racism Champion by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

With many accolades to her name including Fairfax Daily Life 2016 Woman of the year, she’s renowned for influencing positive change both in the workplace and in society more broadly and her influence is felt in the many initiatives she promotes across her social media platforms in which she collectively has over 50,000 + followers.

In 2016, Veiszadeh addressed an audience of approximately 4000+ in her TEDx Sydney talk (which has been featured on Ted.com reaching over 150,000 viewers) to shed light on the issue of societal privilege and how it creates an unequal playing field for diverse minority groups. She successfully mounted the case for why cultural diversity targets are required to help create more of a meritocracy and stamp out racism and discrimination in the corporate sector.

She has been described as a woman who uses her “considerable wit and smarts to punch holes in the stupidity of racism, sexism and xenophobia in general” and someone who has “courage, tenacity and perseverance without the protection and resources afforded by public office.”

As a fearless advocate, Veiszadeh is accustomed to being both an advocate against and a victim of xenophobia. In 2015, she made global headlines as she endured months of cyber-bullying for simply speaking out against bigotry. Australians responded by rallying behind Veiszadeh using the hashtag #IstandwithMariam.

Veiszadeh was born in Afghanistan and came to Australia in 1990 with her family as a refugee and has long been a vocal champion of the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. When Kabul fell in August last year, Veiszadeh was at the forefront of advocating for Australia to increase its humanitarian intake.

Through her various ambassador roles, including as an ambassador for Welcome to Australia which provides a positive voice in the public conversation around asylum seekers and refugees, and her social media platforms, Veiszadeh advocates for equal opportunity and inclusion for all people within our society.

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